Michael Reyniersz Pauw

Michael Reyniersz Pauw (29 March 1590-20 March 1640) was a Mayor of Amsterdam, a director of the Dutch West India Company, and the landowner who first settled "Pavonia", a tract of land that consisted of what is now Hoboken, Jersey City, and Staten Island in the New York City metropolitan area.

Biography
Michael Reyniersz Pauw was born in Amsterdam, United Provinces in 1590, the son of a Mayor of Amsterdam; he was the brother of Dutch politician Adriaan Pauw. In 1630, Pauw decided to buy land in the Americas, and he purchased two tracts from the Lenape at Hopoghan Hackingh (Hoboken) and Ashasimus (Harsimus, Jersey City), as well as Staten Island. His land was named "Pavonia" after the Latinized version of his name (which means "peacock" in Dutch), and he built a small hut and ferry landing called "Paulus Hook". However, he was an absentee landlord and failed to bring settlers into his area, and he was required to sell his interests back to the Dutch West India Company. Pauw was successful back in the Netherlands, and he died in 1640. Today, Saint Peter's University, a Jesuit university in Jersey City, uses the peacock as its mascot to honor Pauw, and it has other references to his name, including the Pauw Wow school newspaper, the Pavan literary magazine, the Peacock Pie school yearbook, the Argus Eyes drama society (as a reference to the preservation of Argus' 100 eyes in the tails of a peacock), the Pavonia Room dining facility, and the Pavo Perk cafe in the O'Toole Library.